Orpheos watched as Pluvius wandered into the civic building in downtown Chios. He could almost imagine the scene. Darius the Vigil was out with Koritsi, but Aplous, his deputy, was sure to be sitting in the vigil's office practicing his writing on the wax tablet his chief had provided. He was just the fellow to whom Pluvius could 'plant the seeds' about treasure, abduction, and betrayal! Orpheus slid off his seat.

Pluvius went over, in his head, the lines Orpheos had recited to him and prayed that he could get them out in a convincing way. He little recognized that this was far from a challenge given poor Aplous was the recipient and his constant tendency was to stray from the here and now. Pluvius took off his cap in a modest manner, which was totally missed by Aplous, and approached the man in the official looking chlamydes (cloak).

"Your honor," Pluvius began, "I've come to make a confession. I want to let you know that there is danger and treachery going on...right here on this island! And it all hinges on treasure--gold, right from the Capital's mint!" Aplous knew Pluvius was there. Beyond that fact, he wasn't certain about anything the man had stated. He was mulling over "your honor" in a very serious and determined fashion and had even begun to write the words on his wax tablet. What he said was, "Yes, well that's certainly worth taking note of! My, my! I'm sure that Vigil Darius will be wanting all the details you can provide. Please have a seat."

Now this would all be far less convincing if you heard how he delivered these lines. Because...if you heard them delivered...you would know that Aplous probably did not understand what he was saying. He was, in fact, reciting lines young Darius had given him, in a more perfunctory way than Pluvius himself.

Pleased with himself, Pluvius sat down and continued with his saga. He explained that Captain Orpheos had secreted gold not far away. He explained too how Captain Orpheos had compounded his guilt by abducting 13 daughters of a retired admiral who lived in Constantinople and was still in the Emperor's service. Finally, Pluvius explained how he had just had to betray the wicked scoundrel Orpheos because Pluvius was a poor repentant sinner who really needed to come clean for "wasn't the Saviour's Resurrection Feast almost upon us?"

Best case, Aplous wrote down these details in a spotty fashion. He understood them in his personal, somewhat erratic fashion that meant Darius may or may not learn of these clues in a timely fashion. What Aplous said was, "Pluvius, you have done the right thing here. And the Emperor is eternally grateful for your honesty." He nearly mentioned the gratitude of the gods out of habit. "It will not go unrewarded! Be assured!" he patted the fellow on his back and continued in surprising earnestness. "Vigil Darius will see to this matter himself, you can be certain! We'll track that old fox Orpheus and bring him to justice!"

Pluvius was very pleased with himself and chuckled as he left the Vigil's office. He did not realize that Aplous had almost decided to ignore the incident althogether and not bother his young master; however, he haddecided it was time to put down something nice for Koritsi. All in all, it would have been very difficult to say whether Orpheos had succeeded in his plan this day. Very difficult indeed.